Diterpenes from coffee beans decrease serum levels of lipoprotein(a) in humans: results from four randomised controlled trials

Abstract

Objective: Un®ltered coffee raises serum LDL cholesterol in humans, owing to the presence of the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol. Norwegians with a chronic high intake of un®ltered coffee also had elevated serum levels of lipoprotein(a), an LDL-like particle which is insensitive toward dietary interventions. We now experimentally studied the in¯uence of coffee diterpenes on lipoprotein(a) levels. Design: Four randomised controlled trials. Subjects: Healthy, normolipidemic volunteers. Interventions: Coffee, coffee oil, and pure diterpenes for 4±24 weeks. Main outcome measures: The circulating level of lipoprotein(a). Results: In 22 subjects drinking ®ve to six strong cups of cafetiere coffee per day, the median fall in lipoprotein(a) was 1.5 mg/dL after two months (P 0.03), and 0.5 mg/dL after half a year (P b 0.05), relative to 24 ®lter coffee drinkers. Coffee oil doses equivalent to 10±20 cups of un®ltered coffee reduced lipoprotein(a) levels by up to 5.5 mg/dL (P`0.05) in two separate trials (n 12±16 per group). A puri®ed mixture of cafestol and kahweol, as well as cafestol alone, were also effective in reducing Lp(a) levels (n 10). Averaged over the four trials, each 10 mg/d of cafestol (plus kahweol)Ðthe amount present in two to three cups of cafetiere coffeeÐdecreased Lp(a) levels by 0.5 mg/dL or 4% from baseline values after four weeks (n 63). Conclusions: Coffee diterpenes are among the few dietary exceptions shown to in¯uence serum lipoprotein(a) levels. However, the Lp(a)-reducing potency of coffee diterpenes may subside in the long run, and their adverse side effects preclude their use as lipoprotein(a)-reducing agents.

Filtered coffee raises serum cholesterol: results from a controlled study

“…The magnitude of the serum cholesterol changes in the present study corresponds to the effect of unfiltered coffee in an earlier meta-analysis (Bak, 1990), the review of Urgert and Katan (1997) and results from the Swedish part of the MONICA study (Strandhagen et al 2000, abstract).…”

“…The Lp(a) levels fell, on the other hand during both the coffee periods, which corresponds to Urgert et al (1997) who showed an Lp(a)-reducing effect of diterpenes. The standard deviations of Lp(a) were very wide in the present study, indicating a large interindividual variation.…”

“…These figures are seemingly in contrast to the findings by Fried et al (1992) and to some extent by Superko et al (1991) where filtered coffee was also associated with a larger increase in serum cholesterol than previously reported. Urgert and Katan (1997) commented on these discrepancies in their review on the cholesterol-raising effect of coffee and were inclined to ascribe these different findings to chance. In a recent study, however, we observed a decrease of 0.28 mmol/l after quitting drinking on average 4.9 cups of filtered coffee for 6 weeks (Christensen et al, 2001).…”

The role of epoxidation and electrophile-responsive element-regulated gene transcription in the potentially beneficial and harmful effects of the coffee components cafestol and kahweol☆

“…The beneficial effects include a possible reduction of toxicant activity after consumption of cafestol, whereas the increase in plasma cholesterol concentration can be considered as potentially harmful. Both outcomes are considered as relevant for a normal coffee consumption pattern [1,2,4,7,8,[33][34][35][36]. The present study contributes to a further mechanistic understanding of this balance between beneficial and potentially detrimental effects of cafestol.…”

QSRP Prediction of Retention Times of Chlorogenic Acids in Coffee by Bioplastic Evolution

“…Coffee terpenoids, cafestol, kaweol and 16-O-methylcafestol, which occur as fatty acid (FA) esters (FAEs), are responsible for the reversible rise in plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (CHOL) observed in some populations (e.g., Scandinavia, Italy) [1][2][3]. High consumption of boiled, unfiltered coffee was linked to risen levels of homocysteine [4,5], which, along with risen CHOL, is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD).…”